Kalidou Koulibaly Sold Well, Attracted By Liverpool To Manchester City

Bek Napoli, Kalidou Koulibaly. (Foto: Twitter @ kkoulibaly26)

JAKARTA - Napoli center-back Kalidou Koulibaly is selling well in the market. Big European clubs - especially from the Premier League - are seriously expressing their interest in bringing in the Senegalese national team defender.

Manchester United, Liverpool, and prospective new club Newcastle United are the main lists of enthusiasts who want to use Koulibaly's services. Most recently, Manchester City are also reportedly looking to hook the 28-year-old player.

The figure of Koulibaly does have a classy reputation in the Italian Serie A. He has experienced tremendous development with Napoli, the club he has been playing for since 2014.

In fact, his name is often included in the list of the 11 best players for the year in Serie A. In the 2018/19 season, in the list of 11 names for the best Serie A players, Koulibaly's name is listed along with the tough Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini at the center back position.

Quoted from the Manchester Evening News, Manchester City are prioritizing buying a new center-back to strengthen their defense next season.

Sports journalists in the Transfer Window Podcast report that Man City have been missing a leader at the back since Vincent Kompany's move.

Even though there are names like Nicolas Otamendi, John Stones, or Aymeric Laporte, they can't quite match what Kompany did for The Citizens. Moreover, in the midst of limited stock of central defenders, these names often fall due to injuries.

For that Pep Guardiola needs a figure like Koulibaly who is able to appear consistently in the center-back sector. Koulibaly is considered to be the most appropriate option if City wants to strengthen their defense.

However, there is one factor that is likely to thwart Man City's chances of getting Koulibaly. The reason is, next season Man City will not play in the Champions League due to a ban from playing in Europe for two seasons after The Citizens committed serious violations of the Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.

Because it would be a shame if a defender as tough as Koulibaly doesn't play in Europe's top competitions. Koulibaly also seems to be choosing a club capable of playing in the European Champions League, such as Liverpool.

The Reds have indeed been monitoring Koulibaly for a long time. Jurgen Klopp plans to pair Virgil van Dijk and Koulibaly.

The Last Piece of Liverpool's Strength

Koulibaly is considered to be the last piece of Liverpool's strength puzzle. He is considered to be increasingly perfecting the Reds' ferocity in the future.

Liverpool have indeed become a frightening team in the last three seasons, especially when Van Dijk arrived. But the Reds are often in trouble if the Dutch defender doesn't play.

Van Dijk is also considered not to have a commensurate partnership. So that it is often considered the main weakness of Jurgen Klopp's troops.

Former Liverpool and Napoli player Andrea Dossena also spoke about the speculation of a move for Koulibaly to the Reds. According to him, the process of refining the Liverpool squad was completely complete when Koulibaly landed at Anfield.

Dossena also analyzed, even though several European clubs experienced a financial crisis due to the COVID-19, but Liverpool were still considered capable of buying players at high prices. This is in contrast to Napoli's condition, which must seek fresh funds in order to stabilize the club's finances.

"If the Italian Serie A continues, Napoli will have difficulty penetrating the Champions League zone. So maybe they will be forced to release a number of important players, and the two most frequently mentioned names are Fabian Ruiz and Koulibaly," said Dossena some time ago.

Liverpool were competing with Manchester United for Koulibaly. However, Man United did not seem as serious as Liverpool in approaching Koulibaly.

While defending Napoli since the 2014/15 season, Koulibaly has made 233 appearances, scoring 10 goals and five assists.

Meanwhile, with the Senegal national team, Koulibaly has made 42 appearances since his debut in September 2015 and always gets the main place.

Corriere dello Sport reports that Napoli plans to release Koulibaly in the summer transfer window. Koulibaly when bought from Metz was only worth 7.75 million euros. According to Transfermarkt, Koulibaly's current value is 56 million euros.